The Sims/ H and M

The sims has teamed up with shop H and M to promote their clothes line.  Loads of children and teenagers play on the video game.  You can dress these cartoon people and choose what they look like.  You can now only choose H and M clothes to dress your sim in, you can make your sim go shopping, try things on, browse through the clothes, do runway catwalks.  Making people aware of the clothes they sell in H and M.  This game brings together the real world of fashion and the virtual world of gaming.  This game also works to the advantage of the consumer as you can design an outfit, dress your sim in it and enter it into a runway online competition with the possibility of having your design made into a real item of clothing that can be purchased in H and M stores.  H and M is the first and only brand to have this idea and colaborate with the gaming world.  I think it is a unique and clever idea.  However I do think the Sims age range probably stops at about 15 years old if that and the target market for H and M is probably a little bit older.  All in all a good idea but i think they have got the target market slightly wrong.

Sony Ericson Night Tennis Event- Campaign

I loved the idea of this campaign sport and electronic culture to combining.  Sony Ericsson combined sport and music for its "night tennis" event.  I thought this was really cool and different and the pictures show how amazing the night was.  There was a pitch black tennis court only lit by UV lights and eight players wearing neon clothes that show up in the dark.  There was a UV neon tennis ball and music like Groove Armarda playing in the background.  There were a number of tennis games with amazing light shows and music and projected onto a screen to everyone can see.  In the middle of games a fashion show took place with the latest styles and products, after the matches the tennis court got transformed into a dance floor.  This "Tennis Night" happened during the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.  I think this is an awsome idea to promote awareness and a really cool idea for a night, I personally would have loved to have gone!!

Lost keys- Campaign

I found this campaign in a book called "Advertising Next" and  thought it was a perfect way to catch peoples attention.  Keyrings attached to keys were left in 125 busy pubic places for example on countertops   and booths, on bars or at cash points.  The keyring that is featured in the picture that reads "if found, please do not return ."- " My Next Generation Nissan Altima has Intelligent Key with Push Button Ignition, and I no longer needs these"-  this reference advertises the new form of technology that allows the owner of the new Altima to unlock and drive the car without using the key.  A very interesting and eye catching way to promote the new car and its features!

Smoking Campaign

Recently I have just given up smoking and as a previous smoker I noticed a new campaign that really shocked me.  I never realised how many chemicals cigarettes contain and the real dangers of them.  Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals and the campaign's aim was to make people aware of what exactly cigarettes contain and what carcinogenic substances people are putting into their bodies.  To do this a cigarette shaped tanker with warning signs of what cigarettes contain and the dangers of them displayed on the tank.  This was then driven around the UK and parked in public places.  This concept was designed to direct the public to the "smoke is poison" website.  This campaign was very sucessful and people informed of them chemicals in cigarettes rose by 178%.  I think a very striking campaign.

Yellow Balls- Campaign

This campaign really caught my attention as I have alway been very active as a child and an adult.  I have a very strong opinion on children and adults who sit inside all day or at weekends and don't do anything.  With rising in obesity amongst children the yellow ball campaign was set to fight obesity in the Uk between 9 and 13 year olds and get them active. 500,000 balls were distributed , some were direct mail, others given out in schools and some dropped in selected playgrounds and parks.  Most children who see a play will automatically pick it up and play with it or gain the intrerest of the child.  Each ball had a specific code on it which children were encouraged to tap into the internet and they could then start a blog.  They were encouraged to do a post on what they had done with the ball and then pass the ball on and then track where there ball had gone and what other people had been doing with it.  This programme was really successful and got over 5 million kids active resulting in 14.9 million hours of excercise.  21% of the balls handed out were passed on.  1 ball was passed 31 times and another travelled 39,940 miles!!!

What Katie Did Next- tv

Lover her or hate her, everyone just cant seem to get enough of Katie Price.  Everyone that hates her is still talking about her.  She is fascinating and incredible to watch.  People are hooked on her latest tv show "what katie did next".  Even if you hate her you jut still have to watch her  I thought this picture that i found of her from ibiza sums her up in one.  She is on the beach with people crowded around her, waiting to see what she is going to to.  Wherever she goes she is watched intently by everyone.  She has created an empire where she sits at the top.  She may not be liked but she is a very clever woman sat right at the top of her game.

http://www.itv.com/entertainment/reality/whatkatiedidnext/

The ugliest building in britain- architecture

There was an article in the telegraph a couple of days ago naming the ugliest building in britain.  Voted by  a panel of experts from Building Design magazine The Pier Head Ferry Terminal in Liverpool was voted the ugliest building in britain.  Just behind in second and third place, Londons Westfield shopping centre and the first station at Poundbury.  The ugliest building in britain cost 10.5 million, which i personally think is a lot of money to make something which people don't think looks nice, however it has a very functional purpose.  It was designed by Belfast- based Hamilton Architects and has been said to be the most notable example of bad architecture.  Many people are willing to comment on this building, most of them saying how this piece of architecture is ugly and spoils the heritage and one of Liverpools most important and historical sites.  My opinion however is that if you don't try these things out you never know!! I personally do not think its THAT bad! Obviously most people do!

The Secret- Book

The book ‘The Secret’ reveals the natural law that is governing all our lives. It suggests that by applying the knowledge of this law, you can change every aspect of your life and this is the secret to prosperity, health, relationships and happiness. This is the secret to life. Can it really be that simple ? – I was sceptical!! But this book has made me think. As an emotional person my emotions often rule me and have a big impact on events in my life, my reaction to them and my overall happiness. Can I listen to them/control them? Will this give me greater contentment? The book talks about the laws of attraction and how your emotions serve as your internal compass to let you know how well you’re applying the law of attraction. If you have positive feelings like joy or happiness then you are successfully thinking about what you want and it will come to you. If you have negative feelings like anger or upset then you’re thinking mainly about what you don’t want, so you’re using the law of attraction destructively. So by thinking about what emotional state you are currently in you can see how you are using the laws of attraction at any one time and adapt this. When in alignment you feel great and so you attract good things, everything in life goes well. When feeling negative you attract bad things hence when things are going bad everything goes bad. Feel good and life will be good. You get back from life what you give out to life. Can it really be that simple? can I make my life better by adjusting how I manage my emotions? by taking more choice in how I handle my emotions ?

Gateshead Millennium Bridge- Architecture

Another piece of architecture which has its home in Gateshead is the Millennium Bridge.  It is the world's first and only tilting bridge and definately catches the artistic eye! Tthe design was the winner of a competition to design a bridge for the millennium.  The brief was to create a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists that allowed ships to pass underneath but didn't overshadow the world famous view of the existing bridges or obstruct the view of the Quayside. This winning design was chosen in a vote of local residents. ruly is a unique design- this bridge manages to look so elegant and graceful (not usually words I’d use to describe a bridge!) as well as meeting its function of a pathway across the river. The bridge itself morphs into different images such as tilting, like the opening of an eye to let ships pass and at night it is lit up and reflection in river gives a symmetrical look as it is mirrored in the water.

The Angel of The North- architecture

I went last weekend to visit my family in Gateshead Newcastle.  We drove past an extrodinary piece of architecture.  The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture and was designed by Antony Gormley.  The Angel of the North is made out of steel (a product which is a mjaor part of local heritage) and is a sculpture of an Angel that stands 20 meters tall and the wings measure 54 meters across the angels chest.  The wings are angled at 3.5 degrees which Gormley has said aims to create a sense of embrace.  I think this is a wonderful sculpture and the sculpture I think symbolizes the warmth and friendliness that the geordies express when you come into their city.  They are known for being friendly and I think this piece of architecture symbolizes that perfectly.

The Evolution Of Underwear - Meuseum

I visited a thought provoking exhibition, The Evolution of Underwear at the Fashion and Textile Meuseum in Bermondsey street London. The meuseum is basically a timeline of how womens underwear has changed and evolved over the last 100 years.  It's an exhibition of two levels, at first viewing it is about how underwear has changed, coinsiding with womens body shapes and fashion.  But then looking more closely we begin to see the second layer that it is also an indepth look at how underwear plays a role in the social cultural an economic changes of womens lives throughout the 20th century.

Mark Grotjahn- Artist

This piece of artwork at first glance is very eractic and busy.  There are plenty of bright colours marking the page in excitement.  Thick, hurried brush strokes.  It is created by different colour oils being painted onto a torn piece of cardboard and then transfered onto linen then onto canvas. Mark usually does highly polished paintings, some of his most famous ones were that of butterflies, however here he has expanded his work and goes back to painting in its most basic form.  This piece's the most promonate feature are the eyes that cover that page.  I personally think they look like angry raging eyes.  If you look closely you can see the different parts of the face painted there also.  Combined with the variety of colours I think that Grotjahn may be trying to portray a mixture of different people and there emotions all mixed together or one person and all their emotions held up inside.  I think the colours convey the mood and the feelings of the different emotions. This painting caught my attention as it was busy and exciting with lots of different things for your eyes to explore and think about

Matt Johnson- Malus Sieversii

This is a fascinating piece of artwork created by Matt Johnson and is a life sized version of a hand-carved wooden apple. An apple is a very interesting choice of fruit to create a piece of artwork about, as it has many links and is associated with many different concepts.  For example it is closely linked with religion from being the "forbidden fruit" that was eaten by adam and eve.  It also is famous when it comes to record label and computers and a tiny picture of an apple has become an international brand for macs.  Again a clash of the core of nature and religion mixed with the most modern and contemporary technology.  If you look closer and Matt Johnson's work you can see how he has carved tiny "escher-esque" entertwining staircases all on the inside part of the apple which looks like it has been eaten away.  The stairs could represent the pathway from historic religion to the new form the apple is taking is the modern contemporary world.

Patrick Hill- Artist

I loved this sculpture and the information and thought behind it.  The sculpture is by Patrick Hill and is about the entertwining of philosophical ideals in art history.  The sculpture is made from strong solid substances such as such as stone metal and glass.  Patrick Hill combines form with painting in this composition. I loved the smudged purple, red and blues on the canvas which is a result of hand dying.  The colours for this piece were apparently gained from plants, fruits and vegetables at the core of nature.  I personally think this piece of structured artwork is a balance between contemporary structured art and natural pieces of nature.  I also think from a personal view,  this piece looks quite mystical, with its circular piece balanced on the top of the sculpture, I think looks like it resembles the moon the smudgy colours blended together also create that dark mystical space atmosphere.  The segment of the circle that is coloured also reminds me of the moon as sometimes only part of the moon appears.  Hill has managed to combine structure and the core of nature in one simple art piece.

Saatchi Gallery

The Saatchi Gallery is displaying  work entitled Abstract America: new painting and sculpture. The gallery provides an innovative way for young or international artists whose work has never been seen in the UK. The artists who display there work in this gallery usually have never been seen in the UK before. This gives young artists an opportunity to show their work and launch their career. Many artists when they first exhibited their work in the Saatchi Gallery are not known by anyone, not even the commercial art world. Entry to the gallery is free to make sure that the gallery is making every effort to achieve the galleries aim to bring contempary art to the widest possible audience. I looked closely at a lot of the pieces of artwork in the museum however I have picked out a couple to write about and study that caught my attention for a variety of reasons. The first is located on the lower floor in gallery 13 and is by two of Chinas most controversial artists famously known for working with materials such as human fat tissue, live animals and baby cadavers. The piece is called Old Persons Home. It has wax works of old men placed in electronic wheelchairs. The wheelchairs move is discontinious movement patterns set on a path of collision to collide into each other. These creepy senile men look suspiciously like world leaders that are now crippled . The pattern that the wheelchairs move in colliding into each other mirrors international conflict. I thought this piece was very shocking and needs a closer look by everyone rather than straying away at first glance because of its creepy nature.

The Orphan- Film

I went to the cinema to see a film called "The Orphan" this suggests to me an innocent film about an orphan who we can all feel sorry for and sympathize with. This was not the case. I have posted a link to the trailer of the film and you will see like I did how diverse the film is from the misleading innocent title. It is about a little russian orphan who gets adopted by a family who have recently had a still born child. The mother isnt ready to go through child birth again but the agree to give the love they had for their baby to an orphan. The little girl appears liek a normal child at first. Some things she does or wears are strange but at first appearence she seems relativly normal. As the film goes on this child does sick and twisted things to the family and other charactors in the film and we begin to see this child is far from normal and a nightmare child who is trying to kill all the people around her. At the end of the film it materialises that the russian orphan is actually a 33 year old pyschiatric patient who had escaped from hospital. I thought this film was awful- the story line is good and keeps you intrested in the film however I think it is REALLY bad pr for orphans and orphanages. I think most poeple would consider adopting if they couldnt have children or even if they had had children and had enough money and time to give to a child that needed it. It has become a trend amoungst celebraties to adopt aswe, therefor adoption is becoming increasingly more popular. However this film has put me off adoption and I think anyone else who watches it would feel the same. I think it is a really unfair film and should definatly be an 18 not a 15!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8OjaV3gyOI - watch the trailer

Cool Brands- book

Cool Brands is a book which looks at the development of well known brands around the world, how the brand was created and what is thought of the brand now. The product is featured on one side of the left hand side of the page along with a strap line which includes a descriptive sentence. I have posted a few of the pages. The copy is so simple yet so effective. Just what you need when creating a brand that needs to be remembered.

The picture book - book

I found this book while looking in the Satchi and Satchi gallery (which I will write about and comment on at a later post!!) I found the book in the gift shop there. Possibly the best part of all meuseums! The book really caught my attension, not at first glance but after flicking throught it, i realised it wasnt like any other ordinary book. The book purposley has no text or copy written in it as the books aim is for you to come to your own conclusions about the art and design in the book. Take what you want from the pictures, think about them and what they might represent, making you look more closely at the book and studying the art or designs harder than if there was a piece of text there telling you what it was about. Its more intresting to come to your own conclusions and have your own opinions on things as in art and design if you can justify it it isnt wrong and everyone is enitiled to their own opinions.

Jemma Kidd- Make up

This week I have been doing some work experience at Jemma Kidd. Jemma Kidd designs make up. They do all there own designs and advertsing, I helped in the design office and photography studio. They have recently rebranded all their products to make them more premieum as they moved their products from Boots to Space NK, the transition was huge has the prices of their products jumped by a huge margin so the designs of the products have to reflect this. They looked at existing brands such as Mac, Ysl and Benifit to gain inspiration at what there designs should look like and to have a look what was already on the premieum market. I think they have done this transition extremely well and the products look high range and expensive. The website is also very upbeat and modern, lots of videos which play on the site, interacting with the consumer. Bright colours contrast with black to grab your attension. There are also lots of buttons to click on, to explore and take you around the site giving you more information. One of the flaws that I found with this internet site is that you cant buy products online which you can do with all the other premieum brands of make up. I have posted some of the products and designs that Jemma Kidd has come up with and a link to there website. Jemma Kidd I personally think is one of the most up and coming modern cosmetic companies and promises to be making a huge impression and I think in a couple of years will be an extremly established well known brand.

http://www.jemmakidd.com/

Sunbed Campaign

As I was looking into Mccan Ericson I decided to look up some of the work they have produced and their most sucessfull campaigns. I then came across one that alot of my friends had seen and it had caught there attension and had previously heard them talk about it and realised what it was all about. A cutting edge campaign to deal with a very relative problem in todays society. The campaign is called computer.tan a link to this is shown below:

http://www.computertan.com/

Mcann Ericson linked up with skin cancer research to promote the dangers of skin cancer. Skin cancer reasearch didnt have alot of money to play with, for a big tv ad campaign for example like the famous mastercard priceless campaign. So they came up with a hoax website convincing people that they could get a tan, like that from a sunbed sitting, at their computer desks from the screens of there computer using "revolutionary technology". All they had to do was sign up on the computer tan website and try it out for free. When they signed up it loaded the screen which looked like a tanning booth and then horrific pictures of skin that had been effected by skin cancer came up and a strong message. This therefore targeted exactly the right people. People who think about and are using sunbed- an excellent way of filtering so you get exactly t0 the right audience. To view the hoax and watch the film that they play click on the link above. This campaign attracted millions of media attension and created endless awarness of the up and coming dangers of skin cancer to exactly the right people. They used print and outdoor ads, street leafleting and lots of PR.

I was having a look at some of the most sucessful advertising companies in London and one of their websites really caught my attension as it almost mirrored some of the workin the style Mariscal (the exhibition I went to see that displayed his work.) The style is sketchy and free and creates words out of different objects based around design and drawing. Website is fun to look at and explore. You can click on lots of moving icons to make different information appear, an awsome interactive website.

http://www.mccann.co.uk

Barbados vs China- place

I went on holiday to barbados for 10days, I got back yesterday morning. On the plane over there I was reading a magazine and I found this article about how hot it was in japan and so how loads of people (little bit of an understatment) packed themsleves into every inch of water they could find. I found this really bizare. Then when I got to barbados we were walking along the beach one night of the holiday. This happened to be a bank holiday in barbados for the "crop over" festival they hold. So the beach was for them really busy. I thought this was a really good comparison. Mirrors the different lives that both countries lead. Japan hectic with a huge population. Barbados more calm and relaxed with a considerably smaller population.

I brought a book today, the book that is featured to the left "Advertising Next". I am really intrested in creative advertising and this book features 150 of the best campaigns that are modern and relate to todays up and coming society. I have chosen one campaign to talk about from the book that I think reflects the 21st century of advertising. An advert that until this age of advertising could possible be frowned upon. This advert also tickles my humour and I found it quite funny. The images to go with this campaign I have scanned from the book. The campaign was to gain publicity leading up the premiere of "Parco Pl" on the American network Court TV. The tv show is about adultory, cheating and gossip as most sitcoms are. It was about a girl called Emily who found out that her husband was cheating on her. She started a blog, posting pictures of what she had done to her husbands car, a billboard she had paid to be created and even posters with his picture on entitled "lost dog"- personally i thought this was quite funny and a warning to all those cheating men, a glance at the worst nightmare sernario! As quoted in the book "every cheating mans worst nightmare". Within a few days the blog had loads of hits and emilys story was publicised promoting this new tv show. The campaign was covered by over 200 news sources. An excellent warning to those cheating guys and also a brillient PR stunt!

You Can Find Inspiration in Everything- Book

This book I found in the design meuseum and I think totally sums up this breif. The author is Paul Smith. The front cover reads "You can find inspiration in everything....and if you cant, look again" I think this phrase is so true and as I have been completely the breif and working on my blog, visiting different meuseums and analysing work in the and seeing how different artists work influence one another. This book obviously speaks alot of sense. The book is about a designers sources of ideas. It is illustrated with the catch phrase on the front "you can find inspiration in everything..and if you cant, look again" and this phrase is printed on eight different paper stocks and shows photographs and souviners, pull out board games and puzzels. Early editions of the book as you can see from the photo that I have taken and published on my blog, came in polystrene cases. These were designed by Jonoathon Ive.

The Design Meuseum- Super contemporary

This exhibition is running from the 3rd June until 4th October.

"The Design meuseum has joined forces with Beefeater 24 to celebrate the fearlessly progressive spirt of London's greatest creative minds past and present. The exhibition illustrates Londons pursuit of new better and braver, across architecture, industrial design, graphics, fashion and communications alike. Endless pushing at the forefront of design and constantly inventing new worlds, Londons design output is continually Super Contemporary"

The exhibition is set out in one big room, the meuseum takes you from the early 20th century right up to the current date of 2009. It shows how the economical, political and financial state of countries have a definate influence on design. It shows that to be a good designer you need to take inspiration from everything that is going on around you. If you looked at a design in this meuseum you can make an educated guess at which era it was from.

One piece of work caught my attension the most in this exhibition was probably dated to be the most recent design in the exhibition a picture is posted above. It talks about how nobodys life is private anymore and everything we do is logged and monitered! did you know we are captured 400 times a day on camera. You can see two sides to this story as as crime rates have risen, the government are stepping up the protection so everything has to be monitered and watched for our own safety, however have they pushed the limit? gone too far? Surely everyone needs a little privacy. If you read the board i have taken a picture of in the exhibiton, you will realise how much you are being watched and what you thought were private matters are actually being logged on a large database. All those things you wish to forget about (using that credit card!!!) are all logged and stored! The exhibiton piece has the copy outside explaining how little privacy we actually have you then step into a circular room filled with pictures of survielence cameras- very contempary-and very scary stuff!

Shower Tunnel -Mariscal Drawing Life

Also in the Mariscal Drawing Life exhibition, the first room as you walked into the exhibition I loved- not as much as the one below but this was my second favourite from Mariscals work. It is a dark room painted all black, four black walls, ceiling and floor and there are two archways at each end of the room with rubber strings hanging down. You can see this in the pictures that I have taken and posted. This room had hanging from the ceiling an installation of 640 illustarted ideas. In his sketchy simple style he has drawn natural sketches, iconography, illustrated alphabets, comic strips, ideograms, picograms and outlines! The pieces hanging from the ceiling have illustartions on both sides if you look from one direction (as you come out of the exhibition) they are all faces. And from the other direction an array of aspects. I like how Mariscal keeps his individal style that is so recognisable but has come up with an array of wonderful, modern and unique designs.

Mariscal- Exhibition

Javier Mariscal was born in Valencia in Spain in 1950. He moved to Barcelona in the early 1970'sand started his career. He started off as an underground comic artist. He went on to give Barcelona a graphic identity. He was firsty famously recognised for his work in the olympic games of 1992 when he created "Cobi" -a mascot, that was recognised by millions. He then went on to designing furniture, jew;;ery, bars, hotels, clothes and textiles all of them displayed his unique style of design, Mariscal is a man of many talents, he paints, makes films is a ceramic artist and a performer. He know has a large studio and have a large number of clients all over the world.

I went to the Design Meuseum in London. He has an exhibition running there with some of his work. Running from the 1st July until 1st November. HIs exhibition is called Mariscal- Drawing Life. This exhibition includes thirteen installations that explores the way Mariscal sees the world and how he uses his drawings. Mariscal explains through his drawing of work what drives him and what motivated him to creating his artwork.

I have chosen two pieces from the exhibition that i really loved. I will start with my favourite. This peice is probably has become my favourite piece of design work of all time. I have taken pictures of the work which are featured. The design is called "Joie de Vivre" the work is displayed in a room with two white walls and two black walls. Its message is supose to convey the joys of living in Barcelona and is represented by an installation of fragments from the medeterrain coastline. In the room there are little houses made out of cardboard with Mariscals famous stylr of drawing decorating them. Inside the little cardboard houses cartoon films that Mariscal had made were playing-as you can see in the picture. Background music in the room was also playing the song "Don't Get Me Wrong" by The Pretenders over and over again. This is a happy, soothing song that is very catchy! My favourite Part of this whole room I think was the little comments that had been quoted by Mariscal also featured in the pictures. Quotes that had driven his to his work and had made him motivated. I love his style of illustrative work. The drawings are simple, yet so effective and have created him a trademark style which is used in loads of products. I think his designs are best on childrens books and toys and packaging. A very sucessful designer who has built his career and created his own sucess through raw talent.